139: The Women Who Talk to the Dead: A Conversation with Katherine Schweit

Most people assume that unidentified persons' cases are actively investigated, that somewhere, someone is still working to restore a name to the dead.

But the reality is often far more complicated.

This week, She Goes by Jane presents a special interview with author and former FBI agent Katherine Schweit about her new book, Women Who Talk to the Dead: The True Story of 200 Forgotten Murder Victims and the Relentless Pursuit of Justice by an FBI Agent and a Detroit Police Detective.

Together, we discuss the unidentified dead of Detroit, the challenges of solving decades-old cases, and the investigators who refuse to let victims disappear into forgotten file boxes and evidence rooms. We also explore media neglect, institutional barriers, and the quiet, persistent work required to restore names and histories to those who have been lost.

At the end of the episode, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub reads Aimée Baker's poem "Detroit, and Other Sorrows," a meditation on memory, absence, and the lives that remain even when names are forgotten.

Because every unidentified person was once known. And every name returned is a story reclaimed.

📍 Detroit, Michigan  | 1950s-Present

📖 Featuring an original poem written in honor of one of Detroit’s formerly unidentified Jane Does read by Mary Lynn Rajskub.

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📚 Get Katherine’s book,The Women Who Talk to the Dead, now at Bookshop.org.

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More about Katherine Schweit:
Katherine Schweit is an author, attorney, former Chicago prosecutor, and career Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent who helped jail bank robbers, kidnappers, and domestic terrorists, while working daily with local police investigating and responding to mass casualty and active shooter incidents. A native of Detroit, Ms. Schweit earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University. She earned a law degree at DePaul University and joined the Cook County prosecutor’s office as an assistant state’s attorney.

More about Mary Lynn Rajskub:
Mary Lynn Rajskub is a comedian, actress and writer, best known for playing ‘Chloe’ on the Fox drama 24 and ‘Gail the Snail’ from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 

This spring, Mary Lynn will co-star in the Netflix series, North of North, and she premiered her second hour-long stand-up special, Mary Lynn Rajskub: Road Gig, on YouTube in December.  Her book, FAME-ISH: My Life At The Edge Of Stardom, is a comedic look at Mary Lynn’s awkward and endearing missteps on the road to becoming fame-ish.